66% municipal waste processed in state: Minister

Tribune News Service

Sanjeev Singh Bariana

Chandigarh, March 23

Approximately 66 per cent of the 3,700 metric tonne (MT) municipal waste in Punjab is being processed per day, thereby underlining the need for putting in place a better garbage collection mechanism and more waste processing infrastructure.

The data was provided during the Question Hour of the ongoing Lok Sabha session in reply to a query by Shiormani Akali Dal (SAD) chief Sukhbir Badal, who had sought specific details of the daily and annual production of municipal solid waste (MSWs) in urban local bodies (ULBs) of the country and the details of the installed capacity to treat the municipal waste.

The Minister of State in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Kaushal Kishore, replied that Haryana processed 69 per cent of its daily municipal waste out of total 5,562 MT per day. Himachal Pradesh, which recorded 886 MT of waste every day, processed only 34 per cent and Jammu and Kashmir with 1,331 MT waste per day processed 81 per cent.

Notably, Chandigarh with 567 MT waste per day processed 100 per cent of its municipal waste and Delhi with 10,028 MT per day recorded 92 per cent rate of its waste being processed. In the national perspective, out of 1,52,245 MT/day waste generated, a total of 1,14,183 MT/day of waste is being processed which makes it

75 per cent.

Kishore made a mention of the Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban (SBM-U) scheme launched on October 2, 2014, with the objective to “scientifically process all the MSW generated in the country”.

To carry forward the progress made, SBM-U 2.0 has been launched on October 1, 2021, for a period of five years. The second phase envisages a garbage-free status for all cities through 100 per cent source segregation, door-to-door collection and scientific management of all fractions of waste, including safe disposal in scientific landfills. It is also aimed at remediation of all legacy dumpsites and converting them into green zones.

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